The Benefits of Bringing Installation In-house

If this article has caught your eye, then we can probably assume that you have the capability to print stunning graphics. You may even have the ability to design stunning graphics. But when to take on the in-house installing of those stunning graphics is the big question.

Possessing in-house installation capability certainly has some benefits. Here are just a few of them: saving time, saving costs, increased profitability, direct control of the quality, and a wider range of services offered to your client base. Our company, bluemedia, wrapped nearly 1000 cars via subcontractor before we were able to successfully run an internal install team.

We desperately wanted to bring this capability in-house-but there always seemed to be one reason or another that we just couldn’t get the internal install team up and running. The primary reason was skill level. If we knew of an installer that was good enough, then he/she had their own installation company or they worked for an independent company.

It’s no secret to anyone, including these installers, that they could make more per vehicle if they worked as subcontractors. But it was feast or famine for them: When they had a wrap to do they were making good money, but there were no guarantees that they would have any work the next day. So once we had at least one vehicle every day to install, the tables began to turn in our favor. This meant we had the book of business to support our first full-time installer. We looked for someone who was very good at their craft and had the ability to train others.

It took a while to find the right person, but we finally did. Once we had one great guy-and a compensation package that helped ensure he would be committed to us-we were able to begin building an internal install department. As our sales grew, we were able to add more installers. And since we now had a "master installer," the newer guys did not have to be as good as the head installer because they could each be trained, internally. Each new installer we added reduced our need to sub out installs with each passing week. We repeated this pattern numerous times to arrive at today’s model-where we very seldom sub out an install.